AnalysisMay 27, 2026 12:15 am EDT Updated You are a director of football. The summer window is about to open, you’re meeting with the club’s sporting structure about your plans — and you guys need a goalkeeper.Welcome to The Athletic’s Transfer Tiers. We’ve assembled a panel of experts to put together a list of players in each position heading into the summer. With the knowledge of those experts, we think we have pulled together a fairly comprehensive list of the top nine players that will be under consideration in each role going into the window.Want to read more about our methodology? That can be found here:Our understanding of the goalkeeper market can be found below. Tier One, Tier Two and Tier Three can be divided into elite clubs, those from the level just below and the wealthy middle-class, respectively. But it is worth remembering that if the other options move or are unavailable, elite sides could quite easily fit a Tier Three player into their teams.Inclusion here does not mean a player wants to move or that they are necessarily going to be available this summer. However, it is who our experts, which includes sporting and technical directors, coaches, scouts, intermediaries, analysts and, in a few instances, people with important local knowledge, would present in a recruitment meeting going into the window.The expert view“He fluctuates a lot in his shot-stopping year on year. But when it’s on, it’s on, and Milan were in contention for a Champions League spot this season exclusively because of him again. The rest of the skillset is always elite (commanding the box, sweeping, passing).”Sporting director at a European Conference League club.Maignan knows how to win, and during his rise to eventually succeed Hugo Lloris as France’s No 1, he helped two clubs end trophy-less runs. In 2021, he was in goal for the Lille team that won their first Ligue 1 championship in a decade. He left the Stade Pierre-Mauroy immediately after, moving to AC Milan, where he won Serie A at the end of his first season; it was the club’s first title since 2011.Magic Mike, indeed.His distribution is very good. The quality of his reflexes has produced a steady run of highlights since he moved to Italy — where he was voted into the Serie A team of the season in 2022 and 2023, just missing out this year to Roma’s Mile Svilar — but Maignan is also a goalkeeper of personality and presence. He’s physical, too. He’s neither Oliver Kahn nor Angelo Peruzzi, but he’s certainly muscular by modern standards, in a way that really complements his other abilities.Maignan was the most highly selected goalkeeper in Tier One, with only one respondent placing him in Tier Two. He signed a new contract with Milan in January 2026 (until 2031), but their failure to reach the Champions League and the sacking of Massimiliano Allegri keep him in reach for Europe’s biggest clubs.InfoAge: 30Current club: AC MilanThe expert view“I would actually rate him as the best all-rounder on the list. I don’t think he leads in any single category, but all of them are solid, and the last weakness was just the uncertainty about whether he could deal with the Premier League. He’s done that.”Former Premier League head coach.Actually, the data consistently ranks Verbruggen among the best distributors in the game; our coach is perhaps being a bit stingy in his assessment.But the comment about the breadth of his abilities is fair. He’s an excellent shot stopper, and has good aerial command, imposing size and a steady temperament. Verbruggen joined Brighton from Anderlecht in 2023 and took that move in stride, despite only being 20 at the time. In the years since, he has managed to become — arguably — the most admired young goalkeeper in the Premier League.If there is any doubt about his ability to keep climbing to the very top of the game, then our survey did not show it: Verbruggen actually appeared in all three Tiers, but more than 80 per cent of the people we asked placed him in the highest — and for good reason: there are no weaknesses.Verbruggen will be the Netherlands’ first-choice goalkeeper at this summer’s World Cup, indicating further how he belongs among the elite.InfoAge: 23Current club: Brighton and Hove AlbionThe expert view“He’s played in every major situation there is in football. A World Cup final, a big European final and important Premier League games, and he knows what it is to win those games. That means you don’t have to worry about him handling a new environment.”A scout for a major Bundesliga club.Martinez was nearly unanimous in this category. One respondent placed him in Tier Three, admitting — frankly — that some of the Argentinian’s antics troubled him. But while some of the others mentioned the same issues, they also said that plenty of world-class goalkeepers have outsized personalities and that they consider them generally irrelevant.And it is hard to argue with Martinez’s record in big games, which, ultimately, is exactly what places him at the front of the queue this summer. A move from Aston Villa never materialised in 2025, and, with the goalkeeper due to turn 34 in September, it’s not clear if he’ll get or be pursuing a transfer this summer.The point is that he’s viable; he’s seen as capable of filling a gap at the top of the game should one appear.InfoAge: 33Current club: Aston VillaThe expert viewFreiburg have laid the groundwork for Atubolu’s departure this summer by signing his replacement. Mio Backhaus, Werder Bremen’s talented young goalkeeper has moved south for a big fee and will start next season as No.1.Atubolu has also changed agent ahead of the transfer window, joining Ali Barat’s Epic Sports stable. So, having spent his entire career at Freiburg — he was born in the city and came through the club’s academy — he is in a position to capitalise on any opportunities.He was marked as a goalkeeper-to-know from a young age in Germany and, over recent seasons, has shown signs of developing maturity. His shot-stopping and reflexes have always been strengths, his size and breadth are an advantage, but the flaws in his game — occasional handling issues and questionable choices — have slowly receded, as he has grown older and more experienced.Atubolu was placed in all three tiers by those who responded, suggesting that — firstly — there’s still some uncertainty about what his potential might be and — secondly — what his current level actually is.InfoAge: 24Current club: SC FreiburgThe expert view“He got unlucky at (Manchester) City. In any other year, Donnarumma isn’t available and he lasts the season. So — difficult, I’m sure — but he belongs at that level.”A former member of Premier League recruiting staffWho knows where Trafford would be now had Gianluigi Donnarumma not suddenly become available at the end of last season’s transfer window. Most likely, he would have grown into the Manchester City No 1 shirt and then, perhaps, been in position to challenge Jordan Pickford for the England starting role at this summer’s World Cup.Maybe that would have been too soon, but four people who responded to our survey said they see him as Pickford’s eventual successor.And why not? Having come through the City academy, he spent two outstanding years at Burnley — one in the Championship, one in the Premier League — during which time he became England’s great hope from that generation. Trafford can cut lines with his passing and claw shots out from beside the posts and underneath the crossbar; he’s a rare package of abilities.He’s also resilient. Trafford is described as a confident player, emboldened by self-belief, who is also equipped to cope with a career’s inevitable setbacks. While his City season began with disappointment and the ignominy of being relegated to the bench, it ended in triumph, with a run through the FA Cup — during which he played well — and a winning final at Wembley.InfoAge: 23Current club: Manchester CityThe expert viewThe €3m (£2.6m) Lens spent to sign Risser from Strasbourg in July 2025 now looks like an outrageous bargain.Almost 12 months on, he has completed his first full season in Ligue 1, finishing second and being voted goalkeeper of the year by his fellow professionals. He’s also been named in Didier Deschamps’ World Cup squad.Risser is unlikely to play, with Mike Maignan the incumbent first choice, but it still represents a rapid ascent for a goalkeeper who was on loan in Ligue 2 last season.But it’s easy to see how he’s moved through the game so quickly. Tall and athletic, with a great reach and fabulous reflexes, Risser also has the required technique with the ball at his feet to fit most systems, and that should make him viable for all sorts of clubs this summer.InfoAge: 21Current club: LensThe expert view“Footwork holds him back. There are so many goalkeepers who are exceptional in that department that he suffers by comparison. He’s excellent in the traditional sense — I would have no problem if a Champions League contender signed him — but I don’t think that will happen.”Former technical director at a Bundesliga clubKobel has become part of the furniture at Borussia Dortmund. The Swiss international joined in 2021, has been an immovable first choice ever since, and has consistently been among the best goalkeepers in the Bundesliga — in fact, he was voted into the league team of the season in 2023, 2024 and most recently this season, in 2026, which speaks to the stability of his performances.Dortmund have needed that. Current head coach Niko Kovac is the team’s fourth in five years, and the defence ahead of Kobel has often been chopped and changed, in shape and personnel.That Kobel has maintained his standards during that period reflects incredibly well on him, and while the criticism of his footwork is not unfair, he has still established himself as a highly credible big-club goalkeeper who now, at 28, is theoretically approaching his prime.InfoAge: 28Current club: Borussia DortmundThe expert viewVicario’s 2025-26 season ended prematurely, following surgery on a hernia that inhibited his performances. He also suffered a sharp drop in form at Tottenham, where almost everything that could have gone wrong did this season.Last summer, Vicario might have expected a higher placing than this, but the last 12 months have clearly altered his reputation. Just three respondents placed him in Tier Two. But given that some of his issues in the Premier League have been the result of physical contact in the penalty area, a move to Italy — his home nation — where there is less tolerance for those tactics, is conceivably a way for him to rebuild and refocus attention on what — at its best — is a rare shot-stopping ability.InfoAge: 29Current club: Tottenham HotspurThe expert viewIt seems a long time ago that there were people who believed that Arsenal signing David Raya was unnecessary. Obviously, that opinion has not aged well, and Ramsdale’s career since — one year at Southampton after a permanent move, a second season in and out of the team on loan as Newcastle United’s back-up to Nick Pope — has been on a steady downslope.That made his inclusion a surprise. Nobody selected him above Tier Three level, perhaps unsurprisingly, but among those who did, the consensus was that between his range of experience — at the top of the table with Arsenal, in a big club environment with Newcastle, and under relegation stress with Bournemouth and Sheffield United — his passing ability and his availability, he would make a low-risk option.Newcastle United have the option to make his loan permanent, but it’s still unclear whether they will exercise that clause. If they do not, our respondents believe there will be plenty of interest at mid-table level in England and from continental-qualified teams in Europe.InfoAge: 28Current club: Newcastle United (on loan from Southampton)